1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system manufacture, and more particularly to a system and method for remotely building an information handling system manufacturing image.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling system users have tremendous flexibility in the hardware and software configurations that they employ to perform various functions. For instance, components having different processing rates, networking modes and storage capacity are often selected to build information handling systems for performing specific functions. In addition, a variety of software applications are configured upon completion of manufacture of information handling systems so that a shipped system arrives ready to perform the intended function. However, one difficulty with the wide variety of available hardware and software configurations is that information handling system users that deploy numerous systems over a period of time often have difficulty maintaining the compatibility of the systems with each other. For this reason, large employers who purchase information handling systems in bulk, such as corporate or government entities, tend to prepare hard disc drive images in advance of the manufacture of ordered systems so that the manufacturer loads the image prior to shipment of the systems. Typically, an information technology administrator of the purchaser configures an exemplary system with a desired software configuration and then sends the hard disc drive or an image of the hard disc drive to the manufacturer. Physical copying and shipment of media containing a desired image is time consuming and susceptible to delivery and media failures. The manufacturer then assembles systems having hardware components that are compatible with the image and copies the image to each hard disc drive.
One difficulty with the ordering and building of custom images is that information handling system configuration and hard disc drive imaging are complex and time-consuming so that custom image ordering is, for practicable purposes, restricted to sophisticated purchasers. However, even sophisticated purchasers might inadvertently introduce configuration errors or even malicious programs that disrupt the manufacturing cycle. Thus, information handling system manufacturers generally must test custom images for potential errors, usually with each hardware configuration variation. Building and testing systems with custom images is generally a labor-intensive task that increases manufacturing expense and decreases manufacturing efficiency. Some applications aid in the creation and testing of custom images, such as VMWare, by creating a “virtual” information handling system in memory and providing an interface to test the operation of the virtual system. Generally, creation and testing of virtual information handling systems exceeds the expertise of typical information technology administrators who often defer the configuration and testing of ordered systems to the manufacturer.